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U.S. missile strike targets suspected militant leader in Somalia

The U.S. military carried out a missile strike in Somalia on Sunday, targeting a suspected militant leader with links to the al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab terror groups, U.S. military officials told NBC News.

U.S. military and intelligence officials are reviewing bomb damage assessment to determine if the terror leader was killed or wounded in the strike.

The officials would not yet identify the target of the strike.

The al-Shabaab group — which the State Department designates as a terrorist organization — is a loosely affiliated band of militia insurgents in southern Somalia that has close ties to the al-Qaeda terror network.

At least two senior al-Shabaab rebels, including the group’s leading explosives expert, were killed in a military strike last October.

Somali Militant Killed in Missile Attack

A member of Somali rebel group al-Shabab was killed Sunday by a missile fired by a suspected drone, a rebel commander said, blaming the U.S. for the strike.

Abu Mohamed told The Associated Press that Sahal Iskudhuq, a militant commander who was believed to be close to al-Shabab’s top leader, was killed when his car was hit by a missile in Somalia’s Lower Shabelle region. The attack took place in a village called Hawai, he said.

A Somali intelligence official confirmed the attack, describing the victim as a “dangerous” militant. His driver was also killed in the attack, the official said on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to reveal the information.

Mohamed blamed the attack on the U.S., which flies drones over Somalia that occasionally fire at one of al-Shabab’s top leaders.

Two U.S. military officials confirm that there was a missile strike against a senior al-Shabab leader in Somalia today. The officials wouldn’t identify the target of the strike, and one of the officials said U.S. intelligence is still “assessing the effectiveness of the strike.”

Image: Members of al Qaeda-linked militant group al Shabab listen to a Somalia government soldier as they are paraded at Maslah square after their surrender to the authorities in the north of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu September 24, 2012: REUTERS/Omar Faruk

Mosaic is a Peabody Award-winning daily compilation of television news reports from the Middle East, including Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, Syria, the Palestinian Authority, Iraq and Iran. Watch more Mosaic at http://www.linktv.org/mosaic

The White House has for the first time officially acknowledged that it is launching concerted deadly attacks in Yemen and Somalia as part of its campaign against al-Qaeda.

The mea culpa came in the White House’s semiannual report to Congress on the state of US combat operations abroad, which was delivered on Friday, The Associated Press reported.

The report highlights “direct action,” a military term referring to a range of lethal attacks, against al-Qaeda operatives in the two countries. “In all cases we are focused on those al-Qaeda members and affiliates who pose a direct threat to the United States and to our national interests,” Pentagon press secretary George Little said after the report was released.

The report, however, does not detail any specific military operations in either Yemen or Somalia. It only acknowledges they have occurred.

“In a limited number of cases, the US military has taken direct action in Somalia against members of al-Qaeda, including those who are also members of al-Shabab, who are engaged in efforts to carry out terrorist attacks against the United States and our interests,” the report said.

On June 13, a US assassination drone attack on a house and a car in the southeastern Yemeni province of Shabwa claimed the lives of at least nine people.

Washington has been using assassination drones in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia and claims that it is targeting terrorists in the operations, but civilians have often been killed in the strikes.

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